As it turns out, my post Friday, suggesting the use of no-cook meals, was rather timely. Because you know that incredible storm that traumatized me against wanting to drive ever ever again? Well, its effects have lasted through the entire weekend! Thankfully we got our power back this morning, hence the hilarious title of this blog post. Huzzah!

Well, actually, consider that a considerably hushed huzzah, since as you can see from the above picture (of Great Falls street, so scary!), it may still be quite a while until normalcy is resumed. Most of Falls Church (including our parents’ place) is still without power, and a ton of traffic lights throughout all of Northern Virginia are still out too. Hopefully this is the home stretch though, and everyone’s power will be restored before long. It’s going to be another hot day today!

So, aside from the power-induced happiness that I’m feeling on this Monday morning (which is also informed by the fact that my amazing friend Ai Rei is coming to visit me for a WEEK starting today – SQUEEE!!), I have another announcement to make. Most of you probably won’t care about this at all, but I’m finally putting my (lack of) money where my mouth is: I’m done talking (er, typing?) about my love of writing, and I’m both delighted and petrified to announce that I’ve started writing a book. It isn’t the kind of book that means I’ve leveraged my blog into a book deal. Alas, my life is definitely not exciting enough for that. Nope, I’ve begun writing the kind of book that I would want to read. So, basically, one aimed at teenage girls. It’s (going to be) a young adult, science-fiction-esque book that I am kind of crazy excited about, in a totally vain and self-absorbed way. Wheeee!

In addition to the writing of the book itself, I’ve also started a second blog to chronicle my (mis)adventures in writing and, eventually, self-publishing. My plan right now is to dive into the world of self-publishing via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing once the book is finished (I’m about a quarter of the way there). The new blog is called “Gretchen Writes“, and if you’re moderately interested in following my thoughts over there (though I would completely understand if you couldn’t possibly care less), please feel free to subscribe!

And that’s about all I’ve got for this Monday morning. For those of you affected by the storm and power outage, I hope you get power back soon! For the rest of you, stay cool anyway. 2 days until the Fourth of July!

First of all, yikes and whew! I’m glad you’re okay. I live in tornado country, and while anything short of the Joplin tragedy just makes us sound like we’re whining, a few years ago a twister missed our house by about two blocks. Nobody in town was killed, but power was out for a while and there was a ton of damage. So I hear ya!

I don’t think we always have to compare our own fear or trauma to anyone else’s, either. I mean, if we feel guilty, we can make a donation to the Red Cross! But the scariest thing that happens to YOU is the scariest thing to happen to you! It doesn’t magically become less scary for you by rationalizing that others have it worse, you know?

BUT SECONDLY! Go you with the writing! That’s fantastic! Bookmarking your other blog in 3 … 2 …

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Hi! I'm Gretchen: 31 years old, Whasian, and navigating life as a married mama to my toddler + one on the way, and fur-mom to my mini schnauzer, Daxter (RIP my best boy, Harry). I'm a hair dye enthusiast, dumpling connoisseur, and am obsessed with anything (everything!) Harry Potter. Thanks for stopping by!